Arctic Fire Dogwood Planting and Watering

[Huskie]

I just planted 35 of these red twig dogwood as a border between my yard and a corn field. I watered them quite a bit when I planted them. How often and how much should I water them as they begin to grow? They where about a foot and a half tall when planted, thanks.

[Steve Foss]

Keep them good and wet the first season. They'll need that moisture to develop strong root systems. If you have access to wood chip mulch or a lot of grass clippings, mulch them in well with 4-6 inches of mulch to retain moisture. If wood chip, one application should be fine. Grass clippings decompose/disintegrate pretty quicky, and you'll have to keep applying new layers as through the season as the old ones compact and decompose.

[pureinsanity]

I soak those puppies every year. In fact I have planted them in submerged water in my dads slough. They are doing well. They are hardy plants.

[Huskie]

We've had a lot of rain here on southern mn, except for the last week. I've backed off on the watering. Any rule of thumb, like an inch of water a week?Should I still be watering these shrubs once or twice a week? They are a foot plus tall and have been in the ground for about 6 weeks now. I notice that a few have yellow leaves on the bottom, is that a sign of too much watering? Thanks

[Steve Foss]

The yellow leaves could be too much water or simply shock from transplanting, although dogwood are mighty tough shrubs.

I'd back off completely on your watering for awhile. Are they mulched in, or is it bare dirt? Mulch holds in way more water, and allows you to water less frequently because of it.

Watch them every day, and water again when the leaves just start to look a very little bit withered. If you've mulched them, they'll likely be good for quite a lot time now. Also, you can dig a trowel down a foot or so into the ground mid way between two of the shrubs, which should not disturb the roots but will give you a good idea of how wet the soil is down there. It should be moist but not saturated.

[Huskie]

They are planted in bare dirt, but we have very thick black soil down here near I 90. It looked like the last watering I gave them, 3 days ago helped, but last night we had 3+ inches of rain. The farm field 10 ft. away was sprayed a few weeks ago also, could be some round up drift from that , but it should have been noticable before now. I'll dig down between the plants in a day or two and check the moisture out, thanks.